by JA Andrews
Sini sat in the corner. The people were thrilled to see a Keeper, and Will thoroughly enjoyed himself, telling stories. His black robe looked different tonight. It looked…fitting. Something about it did remind her of her old slave tunic, but not in the confining way Lukas had always thought. It looked comfortable in a way she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
It was late before he finished. She was on her way to her room with a short candle from the innkeeper when Will stopped her. “I forgot I have something for you.” He disappeared into his room and returned with a book. “I found this on a merchant’s cart in Queenstown. I showed it to the Shield, and he thought you should have it first.”
The cover was faded leather, and the thin book was bent a bit. The pages inside were written in a smooth, small hand.
“This”—Will tapped the page—“is a previously unknown journal written by Keeper Chesavia.”
Her breath caught. “Really?”
He nodded excitedly, handing it to her. “And you can be the very first to read it.”
She stared at him, stunned. “Her journal? Why haven’t you read it?”
“Two reasons.” He flipped ahead in the book. Entire pages were written in runes. “First, because I’m hopeless at runes and it would take me days to decipher even a small amount of that.”
She glanced at the top of the page.
8thth day, Frost Moon, 6th year of Queen Taania
I have a simmering worry…
The runes were straightforward and simple, but she didn’t point that out to Will. “And the second?”
“Because I also found a book by Flibbet the Peddler which was not in runes and was utterly fascinating.”
She shook her head. “How did a merchant find such treasures?”
“Some manor house in northern Marshwell flooded, and the baron had to empty a cellar they hadn’t used in generations. He sold things off by the wagonload. I sent the royal librarian down to see if anything else of value was left.”
“This is amazing!” Sini ran her eyes down the page. The early entries seemed to be from Chesavia’s first days as a Keeper. She glanced up at Will. “I think that the Wellstone connected Killien’s sword with a memory of Chesavia.”
Will considered the idea. “Means nothing to me. But maybe you’ll find something in there.”
She nodded, her eyes scanning the page. She told him goodnight and hurried into her room to set the candle down so she could read more easily.
8thth day, Frost Moon, 6th year of Queen Taania
I have a simmering worry that I should not be here. I’ve begun lessons, and it is simple to find the vitalle the other Keepers talk about. Bits of it move through the trees, the grass. Our bodies thrum with it, the animals too. It’s easy to pull it out, although it stings my finger when I do. It’s nothing like the sunlight.
Her heart quickened. Yes! Nothing like the sunlight. Vitalle from living things burned on its way into Sini’s body, and burned on its way out, exactly the way it did with the other Keepers. Whenever she had to use it, it felt like something foreign, something useful but different.
The sunlight never hurt. It flowed into her naturally, like breathing, and left as smoothly.
Why can none of them find the vitalle in the sunlight? My questions baffle them.
Actually, none of them can see the vitalle anywhere. They cannot see it glow around their hands or slip through the air like a stream of light. They just grope blindly for it, finding it by feel.
I keep coming back to the sunlight. There is something there that is more…
I cannot explain it. But there is something in the sunlight.
Sini skimmed eagerly ahead, but Chesavia didn’t mention the sunlight again. She talked of her lessons, of how the vitalle was unwieldy and impossible to focus. Every task took far more energy than it should. But whatever problem Chesavia had, at least she could create paths for the energy all on her own.
She flipped further back, landing on the pages describing Chesavia’s time at court.
22nd day, River Moon, 1st year of King Lenus
King Lenus is unbearable. The man is paranoid that his advisors are against him. He’s dismissed two of them this week, worthy men who had given sound advice.
Tonight, at dinner, he demanded that I declare whose side I’m on. As though there are sides. The man is petty and irritating, ranting about how his advisors have no regard for goodness or truth. Truth! From the king who twists the most common action into a new attack against himself.
The Shield bids me to do my best to stay in court, though, so I merely answered with the old quote, “I am on the side of truth and right and goodness.”
I do not know how to speak in a way this man will hear. His fears control him utterly.
But I must find a way. Perhaps if I can understand his fears, we can find a way to relieve them.
I am unmoored here. There is nothing to stand on, no one to be comfortable with.
There is too little sunlight in this place.
Sini ran her fingers over the words, a knot forming in her stomach. The idea of court loomed ahead like a storm on the horizon. Why had she agreed to come?
Chapter Nine
It took until early afternoon the next day to reach Queenstown. It turned out to be a good decision to leave behind her black robe as they traveled, as Will’s drew attention from the moment they reached the highway that led into the city. Talen, with obvious disdain for the crowds, launched himself into the air.
“The falconer at the palace spoils him.” Will watched him soar toward the city. “If we stay here too long, Talen gets fat and lazy.”
There was a buzz of activity wherever Will went; people called greetings or nodded in a deferential sort of way. But no one paid much attention to her.
Her hands gripped the reins and she scanned the crowd continuously. She’d only seen Queenstown once since Vahe had taken her, on her way back from the Sweep with Will and Alaric. It felt odd to be back where she’d been born after being gone for eight years. Of course, she hadn’t ever been in parts of it that were this nice. Still, she found herself searching for familiar things.
When she had come through with Will and Alaric, the Keepers had been pleased to introduce Sini, and Rett at court. The Queen had been thrilled to find out they existed. Especially Sini. News of a female Keeper had run through the palace like wild fire. It had been almost a hundred years since they’d seen one in Queenstown. Whatever attention the other Keepers got, she received it tenfold. Endless streams of people introduced themselves to her, offered her luxurious accommodations when she came to their duchy, declared she could take her pick of their prize breeding horses. Will had taken to escorting her everywhere in the hopes of heading off some of the chaos.
It wouldn’t be long before people figured out who she was, and it all began again. She felt a little knot of dread in her stomach at it all. It wasn’t just the attention, either. It was that everyone seemed to expect she’d do something amazing.
“Once we’re here for a few days,” Will said, leaning toward her, “the excitement settles down eventually. It’s just this beginning part that’s annoying.”
She looked at him sharply. “Were you reading my emotions?”
He laughed. “I didn’t have to. I recognize the look on your face. Alaric always has that same one. He hates the attention at the beginning, and he’s not nearly as much of a novelty as you.”
She caught something familiar in a woman’s face in the crowd, and started. But it wasn’t her mother. It was ridiculous to think her mother would be in this part of the city, anyway. The Lees sat on the far side of the palace, tucked away past the city wall. Her mother would never be all the way over here.
The complicated jumble of emotions brought on by thoughts of her family only added to her nerves. The last time she was here, she had still felt so bitter, she hadn’t wanted to search for them. And her time in the city had been so short and so busy she hadn’t had the chance to
feel guilty about it.
Will got them to the palace as quickly as he could, and managed to usher them to the Keepers’ wing with as little commotion as possible. The sitting room outside the three Keeper apartments was bright. Tall windows filled one wall, looking out over a garden. Even the comfortable chairs grouped together in friendly bunches or gathered around tables didn’t help her uneasiness. Vases bursting with late summer flowers reminded her of Gerone’s room but weren’t enough to make it feel like home.
Three guards stood in the room, one at each apartment door, and Will paused at the sight of them. Each duchy in Queensland had its own small military force. The city guard in Queenstown was the largest of them all by tenfold. They wore grey uniforms, and the five battalions guarded not only the city, but traveled extensively around the rest of the country, as well. There were two elite companies. The ranger company ran reconnaissance missions and the queen’s guard protected the palace.
“That’s new.” He led Sini to the room she’d stayed in last time, the second on the left.
“Let me put my bag down,” he said, turning toward his own room, “and we’ll go find Alaric.”
Sini’s palace suite did nothing to calm her. She’d forgotten how opulent everything was. And how huge. Just the entry space was as large as her whole room in the Stronghold. The hooks near the door held two Keeper’s robes, one was far too long for her, but the other looked to be her size. Past the entry, the suite opened into a wide, windowed room with couches, an enormous desk, a fire crackling merrily in the fireplace, and three long bookshelves mostly full of books. Before the fire lay a thick rug made of the reddish-brown fur of a mountain bear. Sini pulled off her boots and stepped onto it. This rug was what she remembered most from the few days she’d stayed here before. This rug and the bed that lay through one of two ornately carved doors to her right. The bed had been so plush that it almost made being in the capital worth it.
The second door opened into a study with a wide desk and more bookshelves. Sini crossed to the bedroom and pulled open the wide wardrobe that stood against the wall. It was empty.
“Don’t worry. They’ll have it full of ridiculously elaborate dresses before dinner tonight.” Evangeline stood at the door, smiling broadly. She wore a long green dress that flowed out over her extended belly.
Sini hurried over for a hug. “Is the baby coming so soon?”
Evangeline’s smile turned to a grimace. “It looks like it, doesn’t it? One more moon.” She set Sini’s palm on the side of her stomach. Sini felt three quick thumps and a roil of movement. “But the babe seems anxious to stretch.”
“This is a good reason to be out of the Stronghold,” Sini said. “I’ve been looking for one.”
“Alaric is with the queen. She’ll want to see you and Will immediately.” She glanced back into the hallway. “Did anyone else come?” Sini shook her head and Evangeline winced. “Well, don’t take the tone of this first meeting to be indicative of how it’ll be all the time, then. Queen Saren was hoping that at least the Shield would come.”
“No one but Saren sees the point,” Will said from behind Evangeline. He hadn’t changed out of his traveling clothes. “You might need your shoes back on, Sin. It’s best to handle irate monarchs with good footwear.”
Sini’s boots looked muddy and worn in the opulence of the room.
Seeing her hesitation, Will grinned. “Presenting ourselves to the queen dirty will show her that we didn’t want to waste time doing anything else before seeing her. And dispel any ideas that we’d really rather turn around and go back to the Stronghold.”
Evangeline led the way through the palace, and one of the guards fell in behind them. Will raised an eyebrow, but Evangeline just shook her head and continued to the queen’s personal study before excusing herself. “I’m going to disappear before Alaric sees me and I get dragged into what is bound to be a boring evening.”
Will gave Sini a quick look that was half wince, half encouraging smile, before nodding for one of the guards to announce them.
Queen Saren stood at the end of a table where Alaric, a young woman with a pinched expression, and a young man dressed in the stoic grey of the city guard were seated. The dark, serious-looking wood covered the walls, loaning a somberness to the room, even with daylight streaming in the wide windows. Not even the bookshelves lining the wall made it more welcoming. She felt like a street rat from the Lees again, who had accidentally stumbled into…well, the palace.
Will bowed and Sini dropped into a curtsey, wishing she could turn around and follow Evangeline. The queen took in the two of them. After flicking her gaze behind them to the empty hall, her face hardened. “I assume the other Keepers are resting after their journey?”
Sini quailed at her tone. Saren was matronly but barely taller than Sini. Four years ago, the queen’s dark hair had been streaked with grey. But the past years had taken a toll. Now almost all the brown in the thick braid hanging over her shoulder was silvered. She was only in her late forties, but her eyes looked worn and more severe than Sini remembered.
Alaric leaned back in a chair at the table. A spray of books spread out in front of him, covering the edges of an enormous map on the table. He caught Sini’s eye and she felt a little relief at the warmth of his smile. His gaze, too, traveled to the empty doorway behind them, his expression resigned.
When no one answered, Queen Saren’s gaze flickered impatiently to Sini. Thankfully, Will cleared his throat and answered. “The other Keepers are resting at the Stronghold. Some of them, as we suspected, are unable to make the journey here. The others remain to care for them.”
“The Shield isn’t wasting his day caring for sick old men,” the young woman said. “He has no reason to disobey the queen’s request.”
Sini bristled at her words, but the queen sent the woman a quelling glance.
“I’m afraid Steffan and Nikolas’s health is quickly declining,” Will said.
The young woman’s face didn’t soften, but Alaric let out a sigh.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Saren said with genuine sympathy in her voice. “I like those two men very much.”
The young woman sat stiffly at the table and Sini could feel the pressure of her gaze. The woman wore a dark red dress, expensive but understated. Her light brown hair was plaited in intricate braids held tightly in place with jeweled hair pins.
Sini ran her fingers through her own short hair, her heart sinking at how wild and disheveled she must look.
“Your highness,” Alaric said to her, his voice formal, “I don’t believe you’ve met Keeper Sini before.”
The young woman gave a nod so small it was barely perceptible.
“Sini, this is Princess Madeleine. And Roan, youngest son of the Duke of Greentree.”
The names shocked Sini into another curtsey. Queen Saren was widowed and childless. Madeleine was the niece of the late king, and due to some deaths in the succession, had recently been declared heir. The son of the duke of Greentree was her betrothed.
Madeleine’s eyes hardened. “We thought older Keepers would be coming. Not one so inexperienced.”
The words cut into Sini somewhere old and scarred, and outrage seethed through. “I believe you and I are the same age.” She bit off a belated, “Your highness.”
Will set a hand on Sini’s arm and gestured to a chair. “Sini is the same age as yourself, your highness, and I assure you she is familiar with everything that has been going on.” Will pulled gently on Sini’s arm until she sat stiffly in the chair. “I have no doubt she’ll be useful to us.”
“Of course,” Madeleine said. “She knew the dragon rider.”
Dragon rider?
“Lukas?” Sini asked, surprised.
“Of course Lukas,” Madeleine said, her voice dripping disdain. She turned an exasperated face toward the queen. “I hardly think someone who thinks of the murderer as a brother has a place in this council.”
Indignation overcame Sini’s hes
itancy to speak. It had been a long time since anyone had spoken to her that way. It was the tone the Roven used with their slaves—condescending and dismissive—and an old, savage anger flared in Sini. “Yes, I know Lukas. I’ve been following everything happening to the south and I understand what he wants.”
“He wants to destroy the Keepers,” the princess said. “Or that’s what you told the queen when you first came here years ago. Which he seems to have grown into a desire to cause trouble to as much of Queensland as he can manage, judging from the events along the southern border.”
“Some of those things are his doing,” Sini said, “some are not. I can help you determine which is which.”
“Do we need help recognizing the work of a dragon?” Roan asked mildly. He was tall, but couldn’t be much older than Sini and Madeleine. Clearly from Greentree, his skin was bronzed and the top of his straight hair, so dark it was almost black, was tied back from his face. The cut and grey of his clothes was the only thing out of place. Instead of the more colorful garb those from Greentree usually wore, his resembled the uniform of the city guard, but it wasn’t exactly a uniform. And the plain grey of his tunic reminded her so strongly of the slaves’ tunic of the Sweep, she was hard-pressed not to recoil from it. He watched Sini with an unreadable expression, mirroring none of Madeleine’s contempt, but showing no warmth either.
The duchy of Greentree had been gaining power during the last generation, but now, with the son of the duke betrothed to Princess Madeleine, Greentree was about to reach a new level of influence.
